What Exactly Is Masonry?

Hello all,

I'm quite new to the 'secret societies' forum. And I'm sure there's about another hundred threads asking the same question; which I'm about to ask. But I'm bringing this up again in the case where I'll probably have many questions. So..

What exactly is Masonry/Freemasonry? ..and/or.. What is being a Mason?

I've been told that there are Masons here at ATS, and I'm not here to judge or whatever.. just genuinely interested.

Freemasonry is a fraternity.

It is made up of men of lawful at (18 to 21 depending on jurisdiction) who have generally good character and believe in a Supreme Being.

There are three degrees in Masonry, including Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason.

Freemasons model their ceremonies after ancient and medieval stonemason guilds.

The degrees in Masonry are allegorical lectures that use symbols to teach morality lessons.

There are more than 2 million Freemasons in the United States and together with Appendant Bodies Freemasons in the US donate more than $1 million per DAY to charity ($400 million per year) as well as providing for elderly Masons, their wives/widows and family.

The best source of info I found in my investigations of masonry was:

www.masonicinfo.com

Now I will step down from the soap box so that we can hear from the anti-masons who will tell you all about the devil-worship, pedophilia and murders.

[edit on 3/5/09 by emsed1]

Originally posted by emsed1
Freemasonry is a fraternity.

How exactly is it related to religion? .. is it a subset of Christianity? .. or can one be a Masonic Muslim for example?

reply to post by Majorion


Yes! Absolutely!

One of the driving principles of Masonry is the treatment of all who believe in one Supreme Being as the same.

There are 'appendant bodies' that you can join after you become a Master Mason that have specific requirements (for example Knights Templar, which requires you to be a Christian) but Freemasonry itself only requires a belief in a Supreme Being.

When a man joins Masonry he is asked if he believes in God (or a Supreme Being). If he answers yes, then his belief is never questioned further.

Freemasonry would not be interesting to an atheist or polytheist in my opinion, but for Jews, Christians, Muslims, etc. who believe in Deity it is a very interesting journey.

Originally posted by emsed1
for Jews, Christians, Muslims, etc. who believe in Deity it is a very interesting journey

Please tell me, how does one initiate such a journey?

This sounds incredibly fascinating.

And what about all the secrets in Masonry? .. I heard that the higher level you attain, the more knowledge and secrets you learn.. is this true? .. could you elaborate a little on that?

BTW, thanks for all the input. You seem to know a lot of this subject, are you by any chance a Mason yourself? or have you ever thought about becoming one? .. because it starting to sound very appealing, to be honest.

[edit on 5/3/09 by Majorion]

reply to post by Majorion


Check your local phone book for a Masonic lodge in your town.

Or I can look one up if you tell me what city you live in.

Then it's as simple as calling them up and they will have you come down and look around and answer any questions you have.

There is a big difference between masonry and freemasonry

Masonry involves basically putting bricks on top of each other

Freemasonry is an evil cult bent on ruling the world under their iron fist. (or a non-clandestine fraternity of men, that work together for the benefit of the community.)

Originally posted whatukno
Freemasonry is an evil cult bent on ruling the world under their iron fist.

I noticed that a lot of members on ATS seem to be very anti-masonic.. because they believe masonry/freemasonry to be evil..

could you elaborate a little on this reasoning please?

reply to post by Majorion


It was actually more of a sarcastic comment about that theory. In truth freemasonry is just a club for guys to get together. Yes they do have some rather odd rituals. But nothing more odd than say catholic mass.

Originally posted by whatukno
reply to post by Majorion

 

It was actually more of a sarcastic comment about that theory. In truth freemasonry is just a club for guys to get together. Yes they do have some rather odd rituals. But nothing more odd than say catholic mass.

HAHAH!!!

Hilarious